Wolfgang Hampel. Founder of Betty MacDonald Fan Club and Betty MacDonald Society for Betty MacDonald Fans all over the world.
Wolfgang Hampel interviewed Betty MacDonald's family and other famous writers and artists.
Wolfgang Hampel's Betty MacDonald and Ma and Pa Kettle biography and Betty MacDonald Interviews are very popular all over the world.
Wolfgang Hampel is also famous for his satirical poems and stories.

That
was how my friend Hilde Domin was, dear Betty! You would have liked her
so much. She had also been in America. At that time you were a famous
author but she was still unknown.

-Did she love cats like you do?

-Yes Betty, she sure did!! Otherwise how do you think she could have been a friend of mine?

-Oh Letizia, don’t boast! Hilde was famous!

-It’s all the same to me, Betty, whether a person is famous or not but that person must love animals

-Why was she as defiant as a cock?

-Well Betty, she was simply so!

-Like a pregnant woman in my “Egg and I”?

-No not so! Betty, Hilde was a whole farm!

- A farm, how was that?

- No Betty, Hilde was more! Almost a zoo! Even more. She was all the animals in the world!

-You loved her very much.

-As I love all animals. You Betty, if I had known you, I would have loved you exactly so because you loved animals.

-But as defiant as a cock from my Bob-farm!

-Yes
and no! (Hilde really loved this double form of answer). Listen Betty ,
I’ll tell you a story about how Hilde was. You would certainly have
loved her. I’ll call my story “The Second Paradise”.

THE SECOND PARADISE

Copyright 2011/2016 by Letizia Mancinotranslated by Mary Holmes

All rights reserved

The Lord God, one day, met Adam in Paradise and saw him lying under a palm.

And God spoke to him: Adam, my son, are you happy, are you content with Paradise ?

Adam answered: Oh Lord, it is wonderful!

And God said: But I will create a second Paradise and give you a wife.

Adam answered: Oh Lord, that is wonderful!

And God said: I will create the wife according to your wishes.

And Adam stood under the palm and thought hard.

And God said: Adam, are you ready?

Adam
answered: My wife should be as lively as a bird but she should not fly.
She should swim like a goldfish but not be a fish….. She should be as
playful as a cat but not catch mice….. She should be as busy as an ant
but not so small.

And God said: So shall she be: Like a bird, a goldfish, a cat, an ant…

Adam answered: Oh Lord, that is wonderful, but she should be as faithful as a dog.

And God asked: Adam, have you finished?

Oh Lord, cried Adam. She should also be as delightful and gentle as a lamb and as defiant as a cock!

….She should be as curious as a monkey and as pampered as a lapdog.

And God said: So shall she be.

And Adam said: My wife should be as courageous as a lion and as headstrong as a goat…

And
God said: So, like a bird, a goldfish, a cat, an ant, a dog, a lamb, a
cock, a monkey, a lapdog, a lion, a goat… and slowly and surely he
wished to begin creating…

But Adam stretched himself under the palm and called:

Lord, Lord, she should be as adaptable as a chameleon but not creep on four feet.

She should have sparkling eyes like, like… real diamonds. She should be as fiery as a volcano

But … she should have crystal-clear thoughts like a mountain spring.

God, the Almighty, was speechless…

And Adam spoke: Also she should be as quick as lightening…

And God said: Man, have you finished????

No, said Adam! She should be as strong as a horse, as long living as an elephant but as light as a butterfly!

Macedonia dumps migrants back in Greece as EU-Turkey deal falters

IDOMENI: Macedonia dumped about 1,500
migrants and refugees back into Greece overnight after they forced their
way across the border, as European nations continued to pass the buck
in a migration crisis that risks tearing the European Union apart.

The police action was part of a drive by Western Balkans states to
shut down a migration route from Greece to Germany used by nearly a
million people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Asia over
the last year in Europe’s biggest refugee influx since World War Two. EU
efforts to conclude a deal with Turkey to halt the human tide in return
for political and economic rewards hit a setback on Tuesday when EU
member Cyprus vowed to block efforts to speed up Ankara’s EU accession
talks unless Turkey meets its obligations to recognise its nationhood.European Council President Donald Tusk, who will chair an EU summit
with Turkey on Thursday and Friday, was flying on to Ankara to discuss
the fraying pact with Turkish leaders after tough talks with Cypriot
President Nicos Anastasiades. Tusk acknowledged to reporters that the
tentative deal put together last week by German Chancellor Angela Merkel
and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu raised legal problems and needed to be “rebalanced” to win
acceptance from all 28 EU members.The European Commission meanwhile postponed proposals to reform the
bloc’s flawed asylum system, which puts the onus on the state where
migrants first arrive, in an attempt to avoid further controversy before
the Turkey deal is finalised. Some 43,000 migrants are bottled up in
Greece, overstraining the economically shattered euro zone country’s
capacity to cope, and more continue to cross the Aegean daily from
Turkey despite new NATO sea patrols.An estimated 1,500 people marched out of a squalid transit camp near
the northern Greek town of Idomeni on Monday, hiked for hours along
muddy paths and forded a rain-swollen river to get around the border
fence. Most were picked up by Macedonian security forces, put into
trucks and driven back over the border into Greece late Monday or
overnight, a Macedonian police official said. “It’s a long way from the
camp to the mountains, it took me six hours of walking. At my age it was
very difficult, I would walk and rest often,” said 60-year-old Mohammad
Kattan, who slept rough in the mountains and trekked back on foot.“My hope was to get to Macedonia, and get my papers stamped so that I
could continue on to another country, to Serbia.” Greek authorities
said they could not confirm the return as there had been no official
contact from the Macedonian side. Ties between the two neighbours are
fraught because of Greece’s long-standing refusal to recognise
Macedonia’s name, which is the same as that of a northern Greek
province.A second group of about 600 migrants was prevented from crossing into
Macedonia and many of them spent the night camping in the Greek
mountains, according to a Reuters photographer. At least 12,000 people,
including thousands of children, have been stranded in the Idomeni camp,
where sanitary conditions have deteriorated after days of heavy rain.
Scuffles have broken out in recent days as destitute people scrambled
for food and firewood. Many have been sleeping in the open. Concern
about the spread of infection grew after one person was diagnosed with
Hepatitis A.Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Tuesday there was “no
chance” that border shutdowns throughout the Balkans would be lifted and
urged refugees to move to reception centres set up by the state. Jan
van’t Land, an official with medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres at
Idomeni, said around 400 migrants had returned to the camp. “There are
still many hundreds of people on both the Greek and the Macedonian side
of the border,” he told Reuters.Greek officials say leaflets that circulated at the Idomeni camp
before Monday’s march showed it was a planned breakout. “We are in
possession of leaflets that show this was an organised incident, a very
dangerous one, endangering people’s lives,” government spokesman George
Kyritsis told reporters. Babar Baloch, regional spokesman for U.N.
refugee agency UNHCR who is at Idomeni, said the migrants’ breakout and
return “hasn’t solved anything”.”It just increased sufferings of
refugees. It started raining again. The sense of support for refugees in
the region is missing,” he said.Turkey wants its citizens to have visa-free access to Europe by June
and to open new “chapters” of its stalled negotiations to join the EU in
return for taking back all migrants who cross to Greece or are fished
out of its territorial waters. U.N. and EU officials have doubts about
the legality of such a blanket return. Several EU countries, including
France, also have misgivings about the visa liberalisation, saying
Ankara must meet 72 EU criteria before it could be implemented.And Cyprus is demanding that Turkey must open its ports and airports
to Cypriot traffic and recognise the island. “I conveyed to President
Tusk our position that the Republic of Cyprus does not intend to consent
to the opening of any chapters if Turkey does not fulfil its
obligations as described in the negotiating framework,” Anastasiades
told reporters after meeting with Tusk in Nicosia. Dutch Foreign
Minister Bert Koenders, whose country holds the EU’s six-month rotating
presidency, said the aim was to find an “intelligent synchronisation”
between the diplomatic process to reunify Cyprus and the EU-Turkey
agreement.

About Me

Betty MacDonald Fan Club, founded by Wolfgang Hampel, has members in 40 countries.
Wolfgang Hampel, author of Betty MacDonald biography interviewed Betty MacDonald's family and friends. His Interviews have been published on CD and DVD by Betty MacDonald Fan Club. If you are interested in the Betty MacDonald Biography or the Betty MacDonald Interviews send us a mail, please.
Several original Interviews with Betty MacDonald are available.
We are also organizing international Betty MacDonald Fan Club Events for example, Betty MacDonald Fan Club Eurovision Song Contest Meetings in Oslo and Düsseldorf, Royal Wedding Betty MacDonald Fan Club Event in Stockholm and Betty MacDonald Fan Club Fifa Worldcup Conferences in South Africa and Germany.
Betty MacDonald Fan Club Honour Members are Monica Sone, author of Nisei Daughter and described as Kimi in Betty MacDonald's The Plague and I, Betty MacDonald's nephew, artist and writer Darsie Beck, Betty MacDonald fans and beloved authors and artists Gwen Grant, Letizia Mancino, Perry Woodfin, Traci Tyne Hilton, Tatjana Geßler, music producer Bernd Kunze, musician Thomas Bödigheimer, translater Mary Holmes and Mr. Tigerli.